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00:00I always love hooking up with Joe Beninati, the legendary voice of the Capitals.
00:05And I got to tell you, Joe, like, I think I've talked to you about this before.
00:10Like when I was I was living in L.A. when Gretzky did it.
00:13And and I was just such a fan of Bob Miller's.
00:18And like, you know, I got to call the thrashers for a season.
00:22It meant the world to me to be able to do it.
00:24And I'd never called a game before in my life.
00:26But I love hockey so much that I was like, I walked away from a lot of money to do it.
00:31And people said I was crazy.
00:32I was stupid.
00:33What are you doing?
00:34You're walking away from national syndicate.
00:35I said, I like hockey more than I like money.
00:37I said, I just I like hockey more than money.
00:40So you can take whatever you want.
00:42Everyone said I was crazy and I was wild and I was over the top and everything.
00:47I heard everything.
00:48But all I know was I told you about Mike Lang, what he meant to me, Bob Miller, what he meant
00:53to me, what you mean to me.
00:55I'm a huge fan of yours.
00:57It couldn't happen to greater guys than you and Bob Miller and Alex Ovechkin, guys like
01:05that and Gretzky.
01:06Now, I didn't know Wayne at the time.
01:09You know, at the time, I was just doing a national show and I was a fan.
01:15So when I heard Bob Miller say, there it is, I was like, and he was running on his skates.
01:22I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen.
01:24And then yesterday, when I saw him diving on the ice and sliding, I just thought it
01:29was like, it was like reminiscing all over again, just the greatest moments of my life
01:35watching it.
01:36Even a guy that's been an arch rival of mine with the Penguins my entire life.
01:40Scotty, you honor me when you put me in the same sentence with Mike Lang and Bob Miller.
01:47And there's a reason why I love visiting with you on this show, and it's because I know
01:52about your passion for the sport and for the play-by-play craft.
01:57And to have everything fall just the way it did in the last three, four days, it's a sign
02:05that the hockey gods wanted it to be that way, that it was meant to be, that it landed
02:11on Monumental Sports Network and the live show, that Craig Laughlin was back from significant
02:17heart surgery to be there in the booth with us.
02:20It all lined up so perfectly, and the goals that he scored and that he has scored throughout
02:25the last 20 years have been so breathtaking.
02:29And so many of them are similar, one-time slapshots from the left circle.
02:34So many of them are overpowering the way that 895 went in, that you pray for those moments
02:43Selfishly, as an announcer, if this is going to be the one, let it be clean and clear.
02:50Let me see the net bulge, let there be no doubt, let there be no goalie interference
02:54or potential offside challenge.
02:57And it lined up perfectly for us, and it was a magical environment.
03:01I can't explain to you how good Friday night was when he tied the great one in D.C.
03:07That was pretty much close to Stanley Cup final fever pitch, only happy.
03:13There was no anxiety there.
03:15There was no, are we going to win this, lose this?
03:18It was all about an individual player's moment.
03:20He scores in the first five minutes of the game and everybody is buzzing.
03:24There were chances for him to get the record that night with a hat trick, which really
03:28would have been storybook.
03:30But the way it turned out there today, droves, and I mean, Capitals fans by the thousands
03:35inside of the arena at UBS.
03:38It was it was magical and it's something obviously that's once in a lifetime for me and and could
03:43very well last a lifetime.
03:45Well, you know, we were we were doing the show Friday night and we were predicting that
03:52he would have a hattie.
03:54I was I said he's going to have three tonight playing that team.
03:57And then Carver Hodge said, no, he's going to do it at the horse track on Sunday.
04:01He had said that all along.
04:05I got to tell you, when he did it, I got I got choked up.
04:12What was it like for you?
04:14I don't even like I respect him so much as an enemy of my team.
04:21But I respect I hated the Islanders, but I respected Mike Bossy so much.
04:26And I respect this guy so much that I got all I got all flustered and my daughter was
04:32like, are you crying?
04:33I was like, get out, get out of the route.
04:36But you have no idea what it means to someone that loves the game as much as you and I do.
04:42What did it what did it do to your soul, to your body?
04:46Did you get did you get weird or funky, Joe?
04:50It's nerve wracking and teary eyed for sure.
04:55Teary eyed for sure on Friday, without a doubt.
04:59And every time the cameras landed on Alex's boys, Sergei and Ilya.
05:05Every time the camera landed on Alex's mom, Tatiana, wife Nastia.
05:11You can't help but think of Mikhail, Alex's dad, who gave me more than a few big bear
05:19hugs over the last two decades while his son was doing such incredible work on the ice
05:25and who loved the game the way we all do.
05:30This is a crowning achievement.
05:32It's an individual achievement.
05:33Alex is all about team.
05:35I think at the end, it's so humbling and you want to there's there's a 23 minute, 24 minute
05:41ceremony and and all the while I know the the competitor and Ovechkin is saying, can
05:46we please get back to the game?
05:48He appreciated what the Islanders did for him yesterday.
05:52I heard Sidney Crosby's comments, a good 90 second to two minute rip of comments.
05:59The mutual respect that he shared with the grade eight and those two kids, those two
06:03guys who are soon to be pushing 40 years old.
06:06They came in at a rough time in 2005 and six.
06:10They had a lot of responsibilities put on their shoulders and they've overachieved.
06:14They've been world class ambassadors, Sid and Alex, and they they know what each other
06:20has gone through and to see and listen to Sidney react and Marvel at what Alex has done.
06:26It's truly it's close to superhuman 895 goals.
06:31It's crazy.
06:32So let me ask you twofold because he's going to keep going and they have a shot to win
06:37the Stanley Cup again.
06:39I know you think they're good enough and I can't even believe the similarities between
06:43your boy Laughlin and I, we both had open heart surgery.
06:47I had both of my valves explode off of my heart.
06:50I saw him in his cardiac unit and I know what he's been through.
06:55What was it like for you to have him out of the booth going through that as your friend?
07:01And I certainly hope you'll send my regards and tell him I know what it's like to be in
07:06that bed and to be in that situation is very scary.
07:09I went through it.
07:11I promise you I'll give him those words and and bless you both.
07:14I mean the last well he had the surgery locker did on February 4th and Alan May did a fabulous
07:22job jumping in.
07:24We throw him into the deep end.
07:26He did more than just swim.
07:28He survived and really thrived in it.
07:30And all the while Alan will be the first to tell you he wanted Craig to be back by the
07:35time Ovi accomplished this achievement and it's amazing.
07:42There were so many moments from yesterday that will be burned into these retinas for
07:46the rest of my life.
07:47But the one that stood out the most was the big bear hug Alex gave Locker after the game
07:53outside of the team dressing room.
07:56Locker said wait for me wait for me.
07:58Alex waited for him to do it and then did it when he was back on his watch.
08:03Again there are so many things that are fairy tales and storybooks about this but that to
08:08me meant the world because I know what Locker has been through.
08:12You do personally.
08:13Yeah.
08:14And there are people out there who know how much goes into coming back from those types
08:19of surgeries.
08:20And nowadays whatever it is that the doctors and the cardiac care teams do they do it so
08:25very very well.
08:26You wouldn't know you wouldn't know Locker had an issue beforehand and you wouldn't know
08:31in the five to six games that we've done since he's himself.
08:37I couldn't be more happy.
08:38Yeah.
08:39It's just crazy.
08:40God bless him.
08:41I'm so happy that he made it through it.
08:44They saved my life.
08:45I know I wear a heart monitor on my wrist that says 30 minutes more.
08:50That's my nickname.
08:51And that guy saved my life and I'll never forget it.
08:53He acted like he was making a ham sandwich but he cut my chest and saved my life.
09:00Tell a lock.
09:01I love him.
09:02Congrats.
09:03Great job on the call Joe.
09:04You're the best.
09:05I'm super proud of you.
09:06Go win another Stanley Cup.
09:07All right.
09:08That'd be fun.
09:09Thank you Scotty for sharing time today.
09:10I appreciate it.